What They Needed
by Nix1978
Summary: How Morgan and Prentiss begin to heal their relationship when she returns and the possible consequences
1. Chapter 1

**This is just a quicky that popped into my head this morning. I'm not sure it actually came out the way I wanted, but I hope you enjoy anyway.**

Emily stood in the bathroom of the BAU, hands gripping the side of the basin, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She was slightly squinting, trying to figure out if she looked different. Would anyone notice? She knew that they all watched her much closer than they did before.

She had been back at the BAU for a couple of months now and although it still didn't feel the same, she felt like she was home and she was safe. Six months away from her friends…. her family, had been the worse few months of her life. It had exhausted her. Moving from city to city and country to country had taken its toll on her body and her mind. Thinking about every one of the team and the consequences of her loss to them had broken her heart a little more every day.

She had just started to feel a little like her old self. Eating well, sleeping better, wounds physically and mentally were beginning to heal. But as she looked in the mirror, she wondered if that had all changed again. Life was throwing her up another challenge. Did she have the energy to handle this one? She wanted to. She was petrified and nervously excited at the same time. She figured her ability to handle this would depend somewhat on one person.

One night… One night was all it took and her life may never be the same again. Had she regretted that night? No….. It was what she had needed…... What _they_ had needed to put the turmoil of the past few months to rest.

7 weeks earlier…..

_Standing at his front door she wandered if she was doing the right thing. She held her clenched fist up ready to knock, but hesitated. Closing her eyes, she could see his face the first time their eyes had met when she resurfaced, for him, from the dead. There was a mixture of confusion, sadness and relief whirling around those eyes, but in his face she saw the hurt too. He had been lied to…. Deceived by people he thought of as his friends. She knew in his position she would have felt the same. You can't undo six months of pain in a few minutes. _

_Knocking at the door, she took a deep breath hearing his footsteps get closer._

_The door opened…. "Emily?" _

"_Derek, I know I shouldn't just turn up like this, but I wanted to talk to you and I thought if I called you may not answer."_

_His surprised expression soon turned into one of hurt._

"_Why wouldn't I answer my phone to you?" _

"_Earlier. You just seemed so…. " She paused, not knowing what to say. "…..Can I come in? Just for a few minutes."_

"_Sure." He said, moving aside for her to enter then shutting the door behind her._

_There was an awkward silence as Emily stood in his hallway, nervously messing with her fingers. He looked her straight in the eyes as if he was still trying to figure out if she was really there. _

"_Wanna drink?" He uttered, the tension in his voice not escaping her._

"_Yeah…. Something strong."_

_He continued to look at her for a little while longer and she thought she saw the sides of his mouth curl up just a little at her obvious desperation for some alcohol to help her through this conversation. _

_Eventually they sat opposite each other in his sitting room, both nursing a generous glass of whisky. Emily circled the rim of the glass with her finger, trying to figure out the right words to start with, but he beat her to it._

"_So, are you gonna talk to me Emily or are we gonna sit here and get drunk in silence?"_

_She let out a little laugh then swallowed hard._

"_I guess I don't know where to start. I just want to know we can work through this, that you want to work through this. Please don't hold this against JJ and Hotch, they were just doing what they thought was right."_

"_I know…" He whispered, "And when I sit rationalise this all eventually I know it'll be ok, but right now I don't know which feeling to deal with first."_

_He hung his head and stared at the glass in his hand._

"_What do you mean?" She asked softly._

"_One minute I'm angry because I was lied to. Then I'm over the moon and still in shock that you're actually here. Then I'm sad knowing what you went through over the past few months and the pain that Rossi, Reid and Garcia have been through. Then I'm hurt because you didn't trust me…"_

"_Hey Derek, I do trust you." She interrupted._

_He looked at her and shook his head, "I guess none of that matters now anyway. What's done is done."_

"_Of course it matters Derek. Just let me explain. I know it won't undo what has happened over the past few months, but may be it'll go a little way to help you understand."_

_He nodded his head slowly._

_She told him everything, from the moment she found out Doyle had escaped to the moment she knew she had to come home, leaving Morgan saddened even more at what she had gone through, most of all because she had done it all alone. _

"_I suppose I should get going…. " Emily started as she got up, looking at Morgan who was sat looking almost in a trance._

_As she went to walk towards the door, she heard his voice call to her, "Where are you stopping?"_

"_I got a hotel room until I sort something else out."  
>"A hotel room?"<em>

"_Yeah, it's pretty much all I've lived in for the past few months." _

_She watched as he looked upwards, in thought, and then back to her._

"_Stay here tonight…. You can have my spare room."_

"_No, I can't do that…. "_

"_Why not? Look you've have a drink and it's one a.m. It's no trouble honestly."_

"_Ok. If you're sure." She needed to let him know he was helping her. It was what he was best at and she knew it would be a long time before he got over her not allowing him to help all those months ago. _

_An hour later, Morgan lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. This was nothing unusual since the day she had left. His brain just wouldn't stop working…tormenting him. He just wanted to not feel anything, just for one night._

_His attention was soon distracted when he heard a crashing noise. He jumped out of bed and ran to the room where Emily slept, not bothering to knock as he entered. _

"_Emily?" He said seeing her small figure sat up in the bed. As he moved closer he could see she was breathing heavily and was hugging her knees to her chest._

"_Emily?" He said in a much softer tone as he perched himself on the edge of the bed._

_She looked at him wide eyed, "Sorry….. Oh god I'm sorry, I broke your lamp."_

_He looked down to the shattered pieces on the floor and smiled, "Hey it's fine…. I've been meaning to toss it out anyway…." He said lying. "…..Bad dream?"_

"_Yeah." She whispered._

"_You have a lot of those?" He said concerned._

_She nodded, "Yeah, but I'm fine, honestly."_

_He raised an eyebrow at her, letting her know he knew she wasn't fine._

"_Ok, well I'll let you get back to sleep." He said as he stood up and walked away. He stopped as he heard her unusually small voice call out to him,_

"_Derek."_

_He turned and studied her. He wasn't sure if it was the way the moonlight was reflecting off her face or whether he was just imagining it, but she looked scared._

"_Yeah?"_

"_Thank you…. for hearing me out I mean… and this."_

_He suddenly felt a twang of guilt hit him. He hated the fact that she thought he wouldn't hear her out in the first place. Right now though, he didn't know how to put that into words, so he did what he did best and turned into the protector. Returning back to his position on the edge of the bed he leant in a little closer, "Listen, I'm having trouble sleeping myself, you want me to stay with you until you drop off?"_

_She shook her head, "You don't have to do that."_

"_No, but I want to. You know how we had that little talk about you being stubborn….? Well prove me wrong."_

_She let a small smile creep across her face and moved over slightly as he shifted his body so it was next to hers, his head propped up against the head board. _

_For what felt like minutes she lay perfectly still, the feeling of sharing this space with him causing a wave of heat throughout her body from the tension. Feeling his stare on her, she turned upward to look at him. His eyes looked different now. They had calmed. The rage was gone, but not the sadness. He gave her a small, sorry smile and gently touched her forearm with one finger. _

_He didn't need to say or do anything else. She understood him, just like she always had done but they had never bridged that gap between them before. Now was different though. They were both different and she wanted, for tonight at least, to bridge that gap. She needed it._

_She closed the distance between them and let her one arm fall over his naked waist, laying her head in the crook of his neck. She felt his arm wrap around her shoulders and he pulled her in a little bit tighter._

_For some reason, her warm breath on his neck made him feel nervous. They had never been so close. It was a line they had not crossed, not physically anyway…. In their minds, through their eye contact, through their brief touches… may be… but not physically. _

_The walls that they had both built around them, coupled with the complexities of working together had just about managed to keep them either side of that line. Tonight felt different though. Their warmth had turned to intimacy._

_He let his hand rest at the top of her arm and stroked her soft skin. As he did he felt her push her body in even closer to him and a shiver ran from the back of his neck to the base of his spine as she shifted her head a little and her lips brushed his skin._

_He then did what felt most natural and turned his head so his lips met hers, the kiss soft and searching._

_As he made love to her she felt it become more and more frantic. The rage and pain of the past few months were pouring out of him. But he was still tender, his lips barely leaving hers and when they did it was only to shower her neck with the same attention. _

_Afterwards, he held her close as she drifted off to sleep, their fingers of one hand still intertwined as they had been the whole time they were as one._

_Only a short while later, her eyes fluttered open and she focused her vision across Morgan's chest on to the alarm clock on the bed stand. It read three a.m._

"_You awake?" She gently whispered, sensing his alertness from the motion of his breathing._

"_Yeah."  
>His voice was raspy and tired.<em>

_She pushed her self up on her elbow so she could see his face…. His exhausted face._

"_Can't sleep?"_

_He shook his head ever so slightly._

"_Why?"_

_She watched his adam's apple ripple as he swallowed. _

"_Derek?" She said worriedly at his lack of response._

_Without looking at her he began, "This is gonna sound really silly, but do you know how many times I've dreamt that you were alive like this and then woke up to remember a split second later that you were gone….?_

_She froze._

"…_..Well, I don't want that to happen again Emily."_

_He felt her watching him for a few seconds so he turned to face her. She leant in and kissed his jaw line tenderly, "It won't happen again. I promise."_

_Laying her head back on his chest and wrapping her arm around his waist, she continued, "So, how many dreams you had about me doing this then?" She quietly laughed trying to lighten the mood._

"_No comment." He said…. She could here the small smile in his voice._

_They both lay there silently, until they eventually drifted off to sleep….. Her praying the nightmares didn't come again. Him not worried about nightmares. He was used to dreams…. Wonderful vivid dreams of the woman he had in his arms right now. His nightmare had always began the moment he woke up. _

_In the morning Emily woke to an empty bed. Somehow it didn't feel right._

_She threw her clothes on and went to find Morgan who was in the kitchen._

"_Hey…." He smiled as she walked over to him. "…..coffee?"_

"_Yes please." She said sheepishly._

_He carried on making the coffee, feeling a little tension rising between them._

"_You know I only left you up there because I needed coffee, not because I didn't want to stay."_

"_I know." She said with uncertainty, wandering exactly what he was trying to say._

_He walked over to stand in front of her, placing the steaming hot coffee on the counter. _

"_Come here….." He whispered pulling her into his arms. "….You ok?"_

"_Yeah but…. Well, we're good right?"_

"_Of course…. We're good." He muttered in his familiar deep reassuring tone. "….. Look I'm sorry for the way I reacted….."_

"_You don't have to say sorry Derek." She interrupted._

"_Just hear me out ok…. I'm sorry for the way I've been since you've been back, but believe me nothing's changed for me. I will always be here for you no matter what and as for what happened last night, I know you'll have a lot of stuff to deal with over the next few weeks. We all will. I just want you to know there's no pressure…. You understand what I'm saying?"_

_She nodded her head against his chest. She knew he would understand where she was at. It wasn't that she didn't want a repeat of the night before….. she did…. But she had lots of bridges to build, relationships to mend and wounds to heal. She knew she couldn't give herself completely to him right now and that's what he deserved. She couldn't risk letting him down again._

_So for the next few weeks they didn't speak of that night, not verbally anyway. The odd touch, the odd word, the way he looked at her. That was all she needed to know they were still good._

She took one more look in the mirror, telling herself she could do this. Taking her cell out she called Morgan asking him to meet her in Garcia's office, knowing she was working on something with JJ in the bull pen.

She paced up and down the office chewing on her fingernails, so drowned in her thoughts she didn't notice him slip inside.

"Emily? What's up?" He said making her jump slightly.

She gripped the back of Garcia's chair and took a deep breath, "I need to talk to you about something and I know now's not the best time as we're about to fly out on this case, but if I don't tell you, you'll know something's up and….."

She stopped as he was suddenly in front of her, "Emily, slow down."

Taking another deep breath and allowing it to escape slowly, she could feel her heart pounding against her chest.

"Ok. There's no easy way of saying this so I'm just gonna say it….."  
>But she paused as if something may come to help her, but it didn't.<p>

He raised his eyebrows, willing her to continue.

"I'm….. I'm pregnant."

She watched his pupils dilate and he stayed perfectly still. He was looking towards her, but he seemed to be staring straight through her.

"Derek…..?" She said softly. "Derek….. It's yours by the way."

That grabbed his attention and he let out a nervous chuckle, "Yeah I kind of got that."

"Ok, just making sure we're on the same page here."

He paused for a while, peering down at the floor.

"Derek, can you say something please, because I'm kind of freaking out here."

His head shot up and met her gaze, "You are ok about this aren't you? I mean just because something's scary doesn't mean you don't want it right?"

Her stare became more intense on him and she looked at him quizzically, "You're awfully calm about this."

He laughed a little, "Honestly? I'm freaking out inside myself, but not in a bad way. After everything that's happened over the last few months, I'm sure we can get through anything."

"We?" She asked, studying his face.

He took another step closer, "yes, of course, we."

She smiled and felt herself calm just a little.

All of a sudden, Garcia came bounding through the door, staring at them both in surprise.

"What are you two doing in here?"

"Nothing." Morgan was quick to answer.

"Oh right…." She said suspiciously, "…..Well Hotch says the jet is ready. You have to go."

"I'll go get my bag." Emily said, slipping past Garcia and out of the room, glad of the excuse to leave.

Once she had left, Garcia frowned at Morgan, "You two ok?"

"Yeah." He said, smiling as he followed Emily's path.

As her office emptied, Garcia grinned to herself. She was sure she hadn't seen Morgan smile like that in a long time.


	2. Chapter 2

**This was originally a oneshot, but a few people asked if there was going to be another chapter and an idea came to mind. This is a pretty lighthearted chapter, so take it for what it is. Hope you enjoy.**

Emily sat next to Reid on the jet, JJ and Morgan opposite them and Hotch and Rossi stood across the aisle to their side.

"This unsub appears to be reliving his childhood. It's like he wants revenge on his mother and father for the past and he picks victims who represent them." JJ was saying.

"Yeah but takes his time replaying what he remembers as happy memories." Reid continued.

"So something must trigger the rage at some point in that memory. The way he kills them is full of rage. It's not just one or two stab wounds, there's twenty or thirty." Rossi pointed out.

"And slash marks." Reid added.

As the agents mulled over the case, Morgan glanced over to Emily who had managed to maintain a façade of normality so far, but he saw a little of her mask slip and her face paled. Not wanting to bring attention to it, he quickly returned his interest over to Hotch who continued;

"Ok, when we get to Jonesboro, Reid and Prentiss you go and speak to the families of the victims. See if we can get a link between them. He must be choosing them somehow."

Morgan couldn't help but look back to the brunette as he saw out of the corner of his eye her shoulders judder. She placed a hand to her mouth and swallowed hard, concentrating hard on an invisible spot on the table in front of her.

"Rossi and JJ go to the morgue. Have a good look at the injuries. Did he just kill them or was there an element of torture too? Morgan and I will go to speak to the local police and look at the geographical profile."

The agents all nodded as Hotch and Rossi walked away taking their seats at the front of the plane. Before anyone could say anything else, Emily shot up out of her seat and made her way down the plane to the bathroom.

"She looked like she was gonna throw up." JJ said, watching her friend's form disappear behind the curtain at the end of the aisle.

"I'll go check on her." Morgan mumbled getting up out of his seat.

He stood next to the bathroom door and winced as he heard the sounds of what he assumed was Emily's breakfast making a reappearance.

As she opened the door, she saw Morgan's slightly concerned face, with a scrunched up nose, staring back at her.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered.

"Just checking you're ok." He whispered back.

"I can't believe you just listened to me throw up. How attractive." She said sarcastically.

He silently chuckled, "I think I'm in for seeing far worse don't you?"

It was her turn to scrunch up her face, "Ew, I don't even want to think…." She finished the sentence waving her hand in front of her face as if trying to bat away the mental image.

She smiled back at him as he grinned at her, "You sure you're up for this Derek?"

"What? Vomit and crankiness? Why ever not?" He laughed.

"Hey I haven't been cranky."

"Really? Ok may be not yet you haven't…."

"Whatever."

Normally she _would_ get cranky at him. Normally she'd tell him to stop fussing over her. Normally, the thought of someone listening to her throw up would freak her out. But this wasn't 'normally'. Derek Morgan wasn't 'normally'. Somehow she felt slightly calmer with him around….. With him on her side. Sure, they still had a lot to talk about, but she knew he was letting her know she was definitely not on her own in this…... Just as he always had.

She walked past him with a little smirk, feeling his hand just touch the small of her back as she did, and returned to her seat.

"You ok?" Reid asked.

"Were you just sick?" JJ whispered, leaning over so Hotch and Rossi couldn't hear.

Emily looked to her two friends and then glanced up as Morgan was stood above her holding out a glass of water.

"Thanks….." She said taking the glass, before turning back to JJ and Reid. "….. Yeah, I think it was the dodgy tuna I had yesterday."

"No it's not that…" Reid said, causing both Emily and Morgan to shoot a look at him. "….. I had that too and I'm fine. It's more likely to be the shell fish you had on the side. I didn't have that."

"Yes, the shell fish must have done it." Emily said, giving Morgan a subtle look of relief.

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Hotch was still studying the case papers as Morgan drove the SUV to the local station. Morgan saw the Unit Chief shake his head.

"What's up?" He asked.

"All the victims have young sons, all aged four or five years old. I was just wandering if there's a link or it's just a coincidence."

"May be something happened to the unsub at that age specifically." Morgan suggested.

"May be. We'll keep that in mind…. Oh and the second victim's wife is pregnant. I better let Reid and Prentiss know before they get there."

Morgan couldn't help but let his mind drift to Emily as Hotch was on the phone to her. He wandered what feelings within her were stirring at the latest bit of information. It seems there was going to be no way of forgetting what was going on with them right now. There was always a reminder.

The two men sat in silence for a short while after the phone call until Morgan had the courage to speak;

"Hotch, can I ask you something?"

"Sure go ahead."

"How do you do it? I mean all this and do such a good job with Jack?"

Hotch paused, the silence feeling awkward.

"Sorry man, I shouldn't have asked. It's none of my business." Morgan added at the lack of response.

"No. No it's fine….. It's not easy, but Hayley's sister is a great help and he's a good kid. Obviously a lot of that is down to Hayley." Hotch barely managing to finish saying her name properly.

"But with everything we see, when you knew you were having him, did it scare you? You know….. because of the kind of world you were bringing him into?"

"Honestly? Yes it did. It's probably one of the reasons I work so hard to try and make it a better place. I do it for Jack."

"How do you know what to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"How to be a good father?"

Hotch smiled, "What's this all about Morgan?"

"Nothing. I guess it's you mentioning all those kids…" Morgan lied, "…It's just you always seem so together…. To always know the right thing to do by Jack. Did you always know what to do? I mean….. did it come naturally?"

"The truth is I question myself all the time. You never stop as a parent, but when your time comes you'll realise that you will do anything to protect them and give them what they need. Whichever way you do that is the right way in the end."

"What if you get it wrong?"

"You do get it wrong sometimes but there isn't much that can't be fixed. You just have to realise you're not superman…. No matter how much you want to be."

Both men gave a little chuckle and sat in silence for the rest of the journey, both contemplating…... Both for very different reasons.

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"Hotch, all of the victims and their families use Rum Creek Park. There's a weekly fun day for families. They've all gone to them over the past month, but they haven't all gone to the same one." Reid was talking on the phone as Emily drove.

"_Which suggests the unsub has been going to all of them to scope out his victims. When's the next one?"_

"Today."

"_Right ok. We don't have much time then. The park definitely fits with the geographical profile. I'm going to get the local PD to set up some observations there today. Rossi and JJ will be here in about half hour. We'll give the profile then."_

"Ok Hotch, we're about ten minutes away."

He cut the call off and turned to Emily, "Hotch says we will be giving the profile in half hour."

"Good." She said as she swerved the car.

"Where we going?" Reid asked as she pulled the SUV into the drive through diner.

"I'm hungry Spence. I'll just grab something and eat it on the way back to the station. You want anything?"

"No thanks."

Pulling up alongside the booth, she wound her window down, "Can I get a burger with everything please."

Reid interrupted, "Without the pickle Emily. You forgot to ask them to take the pickle off."

She looked at him and then raised her eyebrows as if a light bulb had gone off in her brain and returned her attention back to the booth. "Actually, can I have extra pickle?"

As they drove to the next window Reid stared at her.

"What?" She said noticing his glare.

"You hate pickle."

"No I don't. " She said defensively.

"Yes you do. I clearly remember you telling me on July 19th five years ago at the Stonebridge café in Pittsburgh you hated pickles because they were slimy and you thought they tasted like rotten cucumbers. I asked you because you were picking them out of your food and now you always ask for no pickles when you order a burger."

"Oh….." she said slightly lost for words, albeit, she should not have been surprised, "….. Well, I like them now. That ok?" Her tone a little sharper than she intended.

"Ok ok." Reid said, his hands held out in surrender.

Emily checked herself and looked to him, "Sorry Spence. I get cranky when I'm hungry."

"No you don't. You actually forget to eat when we're working and then when we….."

"Ok Spence, stop now….." She interrupted rolling her eyes, "….Let me just get the food because I am really hungry and if I don't eat I feel like I'm going to pass out."

"I guess that makes sense since you threw up your breakfast." Reid said matter of factly.

"Yeah thanks for reminding me Spencer…. Now, you can drive whilst I eat this."

"Sure." Reid obliged, the conversation they had just had seemingly forgotten by him already.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

By ten pm the stake out at the park coupled with the profile had paid off and the unsub was in custody.

Back at the hotel that night, the team were stood in the lobby;

"We'll meet back here in the morning at eight sharp. Plane's leaving at nine." Hotch said before walking off towards the elevator followed by JJ and Reid.

Rossi followed Morgan's stare to Emily's tired face, "I don't know about you two, but I could do with a night cap to wind down. Fancy it?" Rossi asked starting to walk in to the bar.

"Yeah."

Morgan instinctively followed behind, but stopped and turned at the sound of Emily's voice;

"I'll join you guys in a minute, I'm just going to the bathroom." Emily said making her way in the opposite direction.

Rossi leant up against the bar and signalled for the barman, "Three whisky on the rocks please."

Morgan stared at the bar for a few seconds as he became conscious of what they were about to do, "Er, do you think Emily will want that?"

"What the whisky?" Rossi frowned questioningly, "She always has that as a nightcap."

"Yeah I know but I don't think she should…..." Morgan didn't finish the sentence, realising what he was about to confess, knowing that if he carried on he'd be getting himself into all sorts of trouble.

He was glad of the distraction as he saw Emily walking back towards them and she took her place in between the two men as the barman placed the three tumblers in front of them.

She stared at the brown liquid and fingered the side of the glass which was looking so inviting right now. Giving a disappointed sigh she pushed the glass towards the older profiler, "Rossi, do you want this? I don't fancy it." and she gave a quick glance up to Morgan who let a small knowing smile creep over his lips.

Rossi looked at Emily for a few seconds then moved his gaze to Morgan who glanced back at him but then quickly shifted his eye contact, pretending to survey the rest of the bar.

"So what do you want instead…. Vodka? Martini?" Rossi asked.

"I'll just have an orange juice."

"Orange juice? Seriously?"

She nodded her head unconvincingly.

"Some party this is going to be." He said sarcastically as all three agents laughed.

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The following afternoon, the team made their way in to the bullpen after the short plane journey home.

"Guys, we'll de-brief in ten minutes. Grab a drink and I'll see you in the briefing room." Hotch said walking off to his office, followed by Rossi.

"I'll go let Garcia know we're back." JJ said.

"I'll come with you JJ. I got her this from the airport." Reid said, pulling out something long, pink and fluffy.

"What is that?" Morgan scoffed, looking unimpressed.

"It's a pen." Reid defended.

"A pen? How the hell do you…..? Oh you know I don't even care. Go give it her kid." Morgan said waving him away.

He shook his head with a smile and looked down to Emily who was now sat at her desk, messing about in her bag.

"You ok?" he asked, perching himself at the edge of her desk.

She looked up and gave a weary smile, "Yeah. I'm just glad to be back. It's been exhausting hiding this from them."

"I know. Tell me about it."

"I think we got away with it though didn't we?"

"Yeah." He agreed, smiling, unable to take his eyes off her.

She definitely looked different. Tired may be, but somehow more beautiful. He wasn't sure if it was her that had changed or himself.

"So, when we going to talk about this properly?" He said, leaning in closer to her and lowering his tone.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I guess we should do it tonight?"

"Listen, I'm ready whenever you are, but if you're too tired, I can wait." He said, hoping she wouldn't take up his offer of waiting.

"No tonight is fine. Come to my place after work. I'll cook something."

He smiled, "Ok, but I'll get take out. Anything with pickle right?"

Winking at her, he got up and made his way to join the others.

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Garcia and JJ made their way to the briefing room with Reid a few paces behind.

"JJ, were Morgan and Emily ok while you were away?" Garcia asked.

"Well I think Emily was a bit sick, but Morgan was alright."

"Sick?" Garcia asked concerned.

"She ate something bad she thinks."

"Oh right."

"Why do you think there's something up with them?"

"Before you guys left yesterday I caught them talking alone in my office. It just seemed a little tense. I wandered if they'd had words or something."

JJ shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, they seemed fine to me."

The agents all took their seats and debriefed the case which didn't take too long. As Hotch finished up, Emily took a huge yawn causing them all to turn and look at her.

"Keeping you up are we?" Rossi smiled to her.

Before she could answer, Reid interjected, "You know Emily, I think you should go to the doctors."

She whipped her head from Rossi to the younger agent, "What?" She snapped.

"Well, you were sick yesterday and you were eating stuff you hate. Usually I'd say those were symptoms of pregnancy, but as you haven't got a boyfriend it can't be that, so I was thinking about what it could be, and there's a few things that spring to mind that I think you should get checked out. The first is...…"

As he waffled on, Emily didn't dare to take her eyes off him and look at the rest of the room. She could feel herself burning up with several eyes boring into her face.

Garcia and JJ looked at each other, their eyes widening in tandem as realisation crept through both of them. JJ looked at Emily and saw the exaggerated rise and fall of her chest and watched as she picked at her fingers which she could just see in her lap. Garcia looked at Morgan who was scratching his head awkwardly and constantly glancing from Emily to the ceiling and back again. Hotch also stared at Morgan, at first with a frown, but his face soon softened as he watched the agent look at Emily with a gaze that reminded of him of some distance memories of his own.

Rossi was the first to get up. As he walked behind Morgan he patted him on the shoulder, letting his solid hand rest there for just a couple of seconds, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Garcia was next to jump up, grabbing Emily's hand and practically dragging the brunette away, closely followed behind by JJ.

Morgan slowly pushed his seat away and went to walk out himself….

"Morgan." Hotch said before Morgan could make it out of the room.

When Morgan turned the older agent was in front of him. He felt Hotch take his hand and shake it firmly. The Unit Chief didn't use any words, just gave Morgan a small, and what felt like an approving smile, squeezing the top of his arm with his free hand, before slipping past him and out of the room.

Morgan smiled to himself until he realised he wasn't the only one left in the room. Reid was still sat, staring at him with confusion spread across his face.

"What's up kid?"

"Why did Hotch just shake your hand?"

"No reason."

"Morgan, we don't usually shake hands after a debrief."

Morgan chuckled, "No… No we don't. C'mon Reid, we need to have a talk."

"What kind of a talk?"

"The birds and the bees kind."

"But we already had that one." Reid said, standing up and jogging a few paces to catch up with Morgan.


End file.
